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Friday, June 9, 2017

Two Toddlers Die After Being Left Alone in Car Overnight

Two young Kerrville children died Thursday after being left alone in a car for 15 hours.

According to the Kerr County Sheriffs office, 19-year-old Amanda Hawkins knowingly left both her children, 1-year-old Brynn Hawkins and 2-year-old Addyson Overgard-Eddy, in a car parked in front of a Kerrville home late Tuesday. The two girls remained in the car until noon the following day. Their mother was inside the house, just a few yards away, the entire time.

Hawkins was initially hesitant to take the girls to the hospital "because she did not want to get in trouble," according Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer. But she and a 16-year-old boy eventually brought them to Kerrville's Peterson Regional Medical Center. The children were immediately sent to San Antonio's University Hospital.

"The two children were in grave condition," Hierholzer said in a Friday press release. Both passed away around 5 p.m. Thursday.

Hawkins originally told medical staff that her daughters had collapsed after smelling flowers at nearby Flat Rock Lake park. But after Child Protective Service and Hierholzer's office were called to investigate the matter, it became clear that wasn't the case.

Before the children's death, Hawkins was charged with two counts of "abandoning or endangering a child"— with a $35,000 bond for each charge. But since the children have died, Hierholzer said her charges could possibly change. Hawkins' case will be presented to a grand jury in Kerr County.

Hierholzer told the Current he's certain Hawkins knew what she was doing.

"One of the witnesses who was inside the house with Amanda at the time said she told her she ought to bring the kids in," he said.

Which makes the case especially hard for Hierholzer. "The fact that she did this intentionally to two beautiful little girls is unimaginable," he said. "This is the more horrific case we have ever had to deal with here."